Public display device

ABSTRACT

A public display panel includes an external casing which has at least one transparent opening, a support band made of flexible material which carries juxtaposed posters, and a driving mechanism for selectively displaying posters opposite the transparent opening. This display panel further includes an electronic interface adapted to receive data representing new posters to be printed on the support band, an electronic central unit communicating with the interface, and a printer controlled by this central unit for printing new posters on the support board.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to public display devices.

More particularly, the invention concerns a public display devicecomprising:

a closed external casing which defines a certain internal volume andwhich has at least one transparent opening,

a support band made of flexible material which is arranged in the casinginternal volume, this band having at least one so-called printing side,adapted to be printed so as to comprise several juxtaposed posters alongthe support band,

a support band driving mechanism, this mechanism being adapted toselectively display, opposite the transparent opening, one of theprinted posters on the support band.

at least one electronic interface adapted to receive digital datarepresenting designs to be printed on the support band,

an electronic central unit communicating with the interface andcontrolling the support band driving mechanism,

and a printer controlled by the central unit, this printer beingarranged opposite a printing zone belonging to the support band printingside, the central unit being adapted to make the printer print thedesigns received by the interface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Document FR-A-2 598 539 describes an example of such a display device,wherein the printer is a two channel plotter arranged in correspondencewith the external casing's transparent opening, so that each poster isprinted in front of the public.

This known display device has the disadvantage of not being able todisplay a complete poster to the public, whilst a new poster is beingprinted.

This disadvantage is all the more important because the printing time ofa poster is long.

The same disadvantage exists in the display device disclosed in thedocument FR-A-2 629 243, which describes a similar display device: thisother known device comprises two transparent openings for displayingposters, but the printing of a poster neutralizes at least one of thesetransparent openings for a period of about 30 minutes.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantage.

To this end, according to the invention, the printing zone is arrangedso as not to be visible through the external casing's transparentopening, the display device comprising moreover:

a buffer zone enabling a variable length of support band to beaccumulated between the printing zone and the part of the support bandwhich corresponds to the poster displayed opposite the casing'stransparent opening, this buffer zone being adapted to enable severalposters to be printed in advance while holding fixed the posterdisplayed opposite the casing's transparent opening,

and means to hold taut at least said part of the support band arrangedopposite the casing's transparent opening when a certain length ofsupport band is accumulated in the buffer zone.

By means of these arrangements, the printing of one or several newposters can be made while continuing to display to the public one of thepreviously printed posters, and this even when the printer comprises aprinting head only moveable perpendicularly to the direction of movementof the band (in this latter case, the printing of a new posternecessitates the band to be moved at the same time as the printing headis moved, but this movement of the band does not prevent continuing todisplay the same poster in the casing's transparent opening, due to thefact that a variable band length can be accumulated in the buffer zone).

In preferred versions of the invention, one and/or other of thefollowing arrangements can possibly be resorted to:

the electronic interface is a telecommunication interface,

the electronic interface is a data medium reader chosen from amongoptical disc readers, magnetic tape readers, magnetic disc drives,magnetic hard disc drives or semi-conductor memories,

the support band has information zones carrying codes representing datachosen from among identification data of the posters and location dataof the posters, the display device comprising moreover at least onereader device which is arranged in correspondence with said informationzones and which is adapted to read the printed data in these zones, thisreader device being connected to the electronic central unit,

the printer comprises a printing head able to be moved in translationalong two perpendicular axes, namely a first axis arranged parallel tothe length of the support band, and a second axis arranged along thewidth of the support band,

the printer comprises a printing head only moveable parallel to thewidth of the support band, the driving mechanism being adapted to movethe support band parallel to its length in front of the printing headduring the printing operation,

the electronic central unit has in its memory at least one characterfont,

the external casing has a flat shape, having two parallel principalsides, at least one of which comprises said transparent opening,

the external casing has a cylindrical shape and has an annular lateralwall wherein is made said at least one transparent opening,

the electronic interface is also adapted to receive, besides datarepresenting designs to be displayed, chronological data relating to theurgency and/or to the frequency and/or the duration of display of saiddesigns, the electronic central unit being adapted to memorize thesedata, and to print and display opposite the casing's transparent openingthe corresponding posters, as a function of said chronological data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge duringthe following detailed description of several of its versions, given asnon-restrictive examples, with reference to the appended drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a public display deviceaccording to a first version of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the display device of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows diagrammatically the driving device and the printer locatedinside the display device of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 shows diagrammatically a variant of the driving mechanism and theprinter shown in FIG. 3,

and FIG. 5 is perspective diagrammatic view of a display deviceaccording to a second version of the invention.

MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the different figures, the same references designate identical orsimilar elements.

FIG. 1 shows a public display device which appears in the shape of apanel 1.

This panel comprises a closed external casing 2, having two parallelprincipal sides, at least one of which is provided with a glazed opening3.

The casing 2 delimits a certain internal volume, which contains asupport band 4 made of a flexible material (paper, or transparentsynthetic film), this band having at least one so-called printing side,adapted to be printed so as to display several posters 5 (advertising orcontaining general information) juxtaposed along said band, each ofthese posters having dimensions close to those of the glazed window 3.

The support band 4 can be moved parallel to its length by a drivingmechanism 6 which is adapted to selectively display, opposite the glazedwindow 3, one or other of the posters 5 printed on the support band.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display panel 1 comprises moreover an electroniccentral unit 7 which includes a memory (containing, in particular,character fonts) and which controls the driving mechanism 6.

This central unit is also connected to a radio receiver 8 or to anyother electronic interface enabling data in digital form to be received:telecommunication interface, data medium reader such as: magnetic tapereader, magnetic disk drive, magnetic hard disk drive, optical discreader, etc.

Furthermore, the display panel 1 comprises moreover, in its internalvolume, a printer 9 controlled by the central unit 7, this printer beingarranged opposite a printing zone belonging to the printing side of thesupport band, and the central unit 7 being adapted to make the printer 9print designs (images, alphanumeric characters, etc) received by meansof the radio receiver 8, this reception and this printing being able tobe carried out for example at night.

Furthermore, the radio receiver 8 can if the need arises also receiveposters' identification data, besides data relative to the designscontained in these posters: in this case, the central unit 7 is alsoadapted to make the printer 9 print, on the support band 4, codesrepresenting said identification data, with in addition if the needarises location data of the posters.

This identification and/or location data are preferably printed inso-called information zones of the support band 4, outside the zones ofthe printing side of this band which form posters 5.

Furthermore, the display panel then also comprises at least one reader10 adapted to read the printed codes in the information zones, thisreader 10 being able to be for example a bar code reader.

As shown in FIG. 3, the driving device 6 can comprise:

a horizontal roller 11 on which are wound the parts of the support band4 which carry already printed posters,

a horizontal roller 12 for the unprinted support band,

and one or more horizontal return rollers 13, which in this case havefixed axes of rotation.

In this case, the printer 9 can comprise a printing head 14, for examplean ink jet, movable in translation along a guide bar 15 parallel to thewidth of the support band 4, this guide bar 15 itself being moveable intranslation parallel to the length of the band 4 along guide rails 16.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is advantageous that the drivingmechanism 6 comprises a buffer zone 17 wherein a certain length of thesupport band between the printing zone and the part of the support bandwhich corresponds to the poster displayed opposite the transparentwindow 3 can be accumulated.

In this way several posters 5 can be printed in advance by means of theprinter 9, while continuing to display the same poster in the window 3.

In order that the poster displayed in the window 3 retains a goodappearance, it is then desirable that the driving device 6 comprisesmeans for holding taut the part of the support band arranged oppositethe window 3, when a certain length of band is accumulated in the bufferzone 17.

In the particular example shown in FIG. 4, these tensioning means areconstituted by moveable return rollers 18 which can be moved verticallyand which are controlled so as to exert a constant force on the supportband 4, and the support band moves during printing.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the driving mechanism comprises abuffer zone 17, the guide bar 15 of the printing head 14 of the printercan be fixed, in which case said printing head is moveable only parallelto the width of the support band 4.

The device which has just been described enables the posters alreadyprinted on the support band 4 to be easily modified, for example inorder to include on them additional messages, or to print new posters,without human intervention on the display panel 1.

To advantage, the data received by means of the radio receiver 8 caninclude chronological data relating to the display urgency and/orfrequency and/or duration of each poster.

In particular, it is in this way possible to send to the display panel 1urgent general information, which will be printed in a priority way andimmediately displayed in the transparent window 3, for example in orderto warn the population of a town of a danger, of pollution or otherthings.

Of course, the invention is not limited to one particular shape ofpublic display device. In particular, as shown in FIG. 5, the displaydevice can appear in the shape of a “Morris column” type of column 19,in which case the casing 20 of this display device has a cylindricalshape, just as the transparent window(s) of this casing, and the rollersof the driving mechanism, which can be similar to those of FIGS. 3 and4, are generally arranged with their axes of rotation vertical.

What is claimed is:
 1. A public display device, comprising: a closedexternal casing which defines a certain internal volume and which has atleast one transparent opening, a support band made of flexible materialwhich is arranged in the internal volume of the casing, this band havingat least one so-called printing side, adapted to be printed in a way tocomprise several posters juxtaposed along the support band, a drivingmechanism of the support band, this mechanism being adapted toselectively display, opposite the transparent opening, one of theposters printed on the support band, at least one electronic interfaceadapted to receive digital data representing designs to be printed onthe support band, an electronic central unit communicating with theinterface and controlling the driving mechanism of the support band, anda printer controlled by the central unit, this printer being arrangedopposite a printing zone belonging to the printing side of the supportband, the central unit being adapted to make the printer print thedesigns received by the interface, wherein the printing zone is arrangedso as not to be visible through the transparent opening of the externalcasing, the display device comprising moreover: a buffer zone enabling avariable length of support band to be accumulated between the printingzone and the part of the support band which corresponds to the posterdisplayed opposite the casing's transparent opening, this buffer zonebeing adapted to enable several posters to be printed in advance whilstholding fixed the poster displayed opposite the casing's transparentopening, and means for holding taut at least said part of the supportband arranged opposite the casing's transparent opening when a certainlength of support band has accumulated in the buffer zone.
 2. A displaydevice according to claim 1, wherein the electronic interface is atelecommunication interface.
 3. A display device according to claim 1,wherein the electronic interface is a data medium reader chosen fromamong optical disc readers, magnetic tape readers, magnetic disk drives,and magnetic hard disk drives.
 4. A display device according to claim 1,wherein the support band has information zones carrying codesrepresenting data chosen from among identification data of posters andposition data of the posters, the display device comprising furthermoreat least one reader device which is arranged in correspondence with saidinformation zones and which is adapted to read the data printed in thesezones, this reader device being connected to the electronic centralunit.
 5. A display device according to claim 1, wherein the printercomprises a printing head moveable in translation along twoperpendicular axes, namely a first axis arranged parallel to the lengthof the support band, and a second axis arranged along the width of thesupport band.
 6. A display device according to claim 1, wherein theprinter comprises a printing head only moveable parallel to the width ofthe support band, the driving mechanism being adapted to move thesupport band parallel to its length in front of the printing head duringthe operation of the printer.
 7. A display device according to claim 1,wherein the electronic central unit has in memory at least one characterfont.
 8. A display device according to claim 1, wherein the externalcasing has a flat shape, having two parallel principal sides, at leastone of which comprises said transparent opening.
 9. A display deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the external casing has a cylindricalshape and has an annular lateral wall wherein is made said at least onetransparent opening.
 10. A display device according to claim 1, whereinthe electronic interface is also adapted to receive, besides datarepresenting the design to be displayed, chronological data relative tothe urgency and/or the frequency and/or the display duration of saiddesigns, the electronic central unit being adapted to memorize thesedata, and to print and display opposite the casing's transparent openingthe corresponding posters, as a function of said chronological data.